原文 Original text
繁體 Traditional
Reader's edition
如來述伏猴
The Tathāgata Recounts the Monkey
那三千諸佛、五百羅漢、八金剛、四菩薩，合掌近前禮畢，問曰：「鬧天宮攪亂蟠桃者，何也？」如來道：「那廝乃花果山產的一妖猴，罪惡滔天，不可名狀。概天神將，俱莫能降伏；雖二郎捉獲，老君用火鍛煉，亦莫能傷損。我去時，正在雷將中間揚威耀武，賣弄精神。被我止住兵戈，問他來歷。他言有神通，會變化，又駕觔斗雲，一去十萬八千里。我與他打了個賭賽，他出不得我手，卻將他一把抓住，指化五行山，封壓他在那裡。玉帝大開金闕瑤宮，請我坐了首席，立安天大會謝我，卻方辭駕而回。」大眾聽言喜悅，極口稱揚。那三千诸佛、五百罗汉、八金刚、四菩萨，合掌近前礼毕，问曰：「闹天宫搅乱蟠桃者，何也？」如来道：「那厮乃花果山产的一妖猴，罪恶滔天，不可名状。概天神将，俱莫能降伏；虽二郎捉获，老君用火锻炼，亦莫能伤损。我去时，正在雷将中间扬威耀武，卖弄精神。被我止住兵戈，问他来历。他言有神通，会变化，又驾觔斗云，一去十万八千里。我与他打了个赌赛，他出不得我手，却将他一把抓住，指化五行山，封压他在那里。玉帝大开金阙瑶宫，请我坐了首席，立安天大会谢我，却方辞驾而回。」大众听言喜悦，极口称扬。
逐句解 Line by line
那三千諸佛、五百羅漢、八金剛、四菩薩，合掌近前禮畢，問曰：
那三千诸佛、五百罗汉、八金刚、四菩萨，合掌近前礼毕，问曰：
The three thousand buddhas, five hundred arhats, eight vajra-warriors and four bodhisattvas pressed their palms together, drew near, completed their obeisance, and asked:
「鬧天宮攪亂蟠桃者，何也？」
「闹天宫搅乱蟠桃者，何也？」
“Who was it that made havoc in the Palace of Heaven and threw the Peach Festival into confusion?”
蟠桃 — the immortal peaches whose banquet the monkey wrecked in the preceding chapters.
如來道：
如来道：
The Tathāgata said:
「那廝乃花果山產的一妖猴，罪惡滔天，不可名狀。
「那厮乃花果山产的一妖猴，罪恶滔天，不可名状。
“That fellow is a demon-monkey bred on the Mountain of Flowers and Fruit, whose crimes overflow Heaven and beggar all description.
那廝 — “that fellow,” dismissive; 廝 is read sī. 花果山 is Sun Wukong's home mountain.
概天神將，俱莫能降伏；
概天神将，俱莫能降伏；
All the gods and generals of Heaven were alike unable to subdue him;
降伏 — to quell; 降 is xiáng (to subjugate), not jiàng (to descend).
雖二郎捉獲，老君用火鍛煉，亦莫能傷損。
虽二郎捉获，老君用火锻炼，亦莫能伤损。
and though Erlang took him captive and Lord Lao refined him in fire, none could do him harm.
二郎 is Erlang Shen, who seized the monkey; 老君 is Laozi (Taishang Laojun), in whose brazier he was smelted.
我去時，正在雷將中間揚威耀武，賣弄精神。
我去时，正在雷将中间扬威耀武，卖弄精神。
When I arrived, he was in the very midst of the thunder-generals, flaunting his power and parading his spirit.
雷將 — the thunder-generals; 將 is jiàng (a military officer).
被我止住兵戈，問他來歷。
被我止住兵戈，问他来历。
I stayed their weapons and asked him his history.
他言有神通，會變化，又駕觔斗雲，一去十萬八千里。
他言有神通，会变化，又驾觔斗云，一去十万八千里。
He claimed to possess spirit-powers and the art of transformation, and to ride a cloud-somersault that bore him a hundred and eight thousand li at a single bound.
觔斗雲 is the somersault-cloud; 一去 takes the yí sandhi before the fourth-tone 去. The hundred-and-eight-thousand-li leap is Wukong's signature feat.
我與他打了個賭賽，他出不得我手，卻將他一把抓住，指化五行山，封壓他在那裡。
我与他打了个赌赛，他出不得我手，却将他一把抓住，指化五行山，封压他在那里。
I made a wager with him; he could not get free of my palm, so I seized him in one grip, pointed and turned it into the Mountain of Five Phases, and sealed him fast beneath it.
將他 — disposal 將 = jiāng; 一把 takes yì before third-tone 把. 五行山 = the Mountain of Five Phases (wǔxíng).
玉帝大開金闕瑤宮，請我坐了首席，立安天大會謝我，卻方辭駕而回。」
玉帝大开金阙瑶宫，请我坐了首席，立安天大会谢我，却方辞驾而回。」
The Jade Emperor flung wide the golden gates of his jasper palace, seated me at the head, and held the Grand Assembly for the Securing of Heaven to thank me; only then did I take my leave and return.”
安天大會 — the “Grand Assembly for Securing Heaven,” the banquet that closed the previous chapter.
大眾聽言喜悅，極口稱揚。
大众听言喜悦，极口称扬。
Hearing his words, the assembly rejoiced and praised him without stint.
極口稱揚 — to extol to the utmost.
總評 Commentary
The assembly's question lets the Buddha narrate the monkey's defeat in his own voice — a deft recapitulation that carries the previous seven chapters into the new movement. His account is pointedly serene: where the earlier narration dwelt on the chaos, the Buddha reduces it to a wager already won, 他出不得我手.
Within the xīnyuán allegory the retelling matters because it fixes the meaning of the imprisonment. The unruly mind has not been destroyed but contained, 封壓, under the Five Phases — the very elements that constitute the cosmos. Plaks observes that the novel repeatedly stages such acts of binding as preludes to cultivation rather than ends in themselves; the seal is a discipline, not a death.
The passage also quietly establishes the Buddha's supremacy over the Daoist heaven: Erlang and Laozi failed where he succeeded, and the Jade Emperor must thank him with a banquet. This hierarchy prepares the doctrinal claim soon to come — that it is the Buddha's scriptures, carried east, that can finally reform the mortal world.